The Underground Railroad
having no Southern debts_!
Through Mr. Tappan's influence and extensive correspondence
abroad, many remittances came for the help of the "Vigilance
Committee," from England and Scotland, and at one time, an
extensive invoice of useful and fancy articles, in several large
boxes, was received from the Glasgow ladies, sufficient to
furnish a large bazaar or fair, which was held in Brooklyn, for
the benefit of the Committee.
Although lately afflicted by disease, Mr. Tappan still lives in
the enjoyment of all his faculties, and a good measure of
health, and in his advanced years, sees now some of the great
results of his life-long efforts for the restoration and
maintenance of human rights.
Although still suffering under many of the evils which Slavery
has inflicted upon him, the _American slave_ no longer exists!
Instead stands up in all our Southern States the _freedman_,
knowing his rights, and, as a rule, enjoying them. Original
American abolitionists, who met the scorn and odium, the imputed
shame and obloquy, the frowns and cold-shoulders which they bore
through all the dark days of Slavery, now see and feel their
reward in some measure; to be completed only, when they shall
hear the plaudit: "Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
ANTHONY LANE.
New York, Nov. 8, 1871.
Mr. Lane, Mr. Tappan's personal friend who labored with him in the
Anti-Slavery Cause, and especially in the Vigilance Committee for many
years, from serious affection of his eyes was not prepared to furnish as
full a sketch of his (Mr. T.'s) labors as was desirable. Mr. Tappan was,
therefore, requested to furnish a few reminiscences from his own
store-house, which he kindly did as follows:
WILLIAM STILL, ESQ., My dear Sir:--In answer to your request,
that I would furnish, an article for your forthcoming book,
giving incidents within my personal knowledge, relating to the
Underground Rail Road; I have already apprized you of my illness
and my consequent inability to write such an article as would be
worthy of your publication. However, feeling somewhat relieved
to-day, from my paralysis, owing to the cheering sunshine and
the favor of my Almighty Preserver, I will try to do what I can,
in dictating a few anecdotes to my amanuensis, which may afford
you and your readers some gratification.
These facts I must give without reference to date, as I will not
tax my memory with perhaps a vain attempt to narrate them in
order.
As mentioned in my "Life of Arthur Tappan," some abolitionists
(myself among the number), doubted the propriety of engaging in
such measures as were contemplated by the conductors of the
"Underground Rail Road," fearing that they would not be
justified in aiding slaves to escape from their masters; but
reflection convinced them that it was not only right to assist
men in efforts to obtain their liberty, when unjustly held in
bondage, but a DUTY.
Abolitionists, white and colored, both in slave and free States,
entered into extensive correspondence, set their wits at work to
devise various expedients for the relief from bondage and
transmission to the free States and to Canada, of many of the
most enterprising bondmen and bondwomen. They vied with each
other in devising means for the accomplishment of this object.
Those who had money contributed it freely, and those who were
destitute of money, gave their time, saying with the Apostle:
"Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, give I thee."
1. I recollect that one morning on reaching my office (that of
the treasurer of the American Missionary Association), my
assistant told me that in the inner room were eighteen
fugitives, men, women and children, who had arrived that morning
from the South in one company. On going into the room, I saw
them lying about on the bales and boxes of clothing destined for
our various missionary stations, fatigued, as they doubtless
were, after their sleepless and protracted struggle for freedom.
On inquiry, I learned that they had come from a southern city.
After most extraordinary efforts, it seemed that they had while
in Slavery, secretly banded together, and put themselves under
the guidance of an intrepid conductor, whom they had hired to
conduct them without the limits of the city, in the evening,
when the police force was changed. They came through
Pennsylvania and New Jersey to my office. The agent of the
Underground Rail Road in New York, took charge of them, and
forwarded them to Albany, and by different agencies to Canada.
2. I well remember that one morning as I entered the
Sabbath-school,[A] one of the scholars, a Mrs. Mercy Smith,
beckoned to me to come to her class, and there introduced to me
a young girl of about fifteen, as a fugitive, who had arrived
the day before. In answer to my inquiries, this girl told me the
name of the southern city, and the names of the persons who had
held her as a slave, and the mode of her escape, etc. "I was
walking near the water," she said, "when a white sailor spoke to
me, and after a few questions, offered to hide me on board his
vessel and conduct me safely to New York, if I would come to him
in the evening. I did so, and was hid and fed by him, and on
landing at New York, he conducted me to Mrs. Smith's house,
where I am now staying."
[Footnote A: For three years I superintended a Sabbath-school
mostly composed of colored children and adults. Most of the
teachers were warm-hearted abolitionists, and the whole number
taught in this school during this period, was seven or eight
hundred.]
To my inquiry, have you parents living, and also brothers and
sisters, she replied: "There is no child but myself." "Were not
your parents kind to you, and did you not love them?" "Yes I
love them very much."
"How were you treated by your master and mistress?" "They
treated me very well." "How then," said I, "could you put
yourself in the care of that sailor, who was a stranger to you,
and leave your parents?" I shall never forget her heart-felt
reply: "_He told me I should be free_!"
One Sunday morning, I received a letter, informing me that an
officer belonging to Savannah, Ga., had started for New York, in
pursuit of two young men, of nineteen or twenty, who had been
slaves of one of the principal physicians of the place, and who
had escaped and were supposed to be in New York. The letter
requested me to find them and give them warning. As there was no
time to be lost, I concluded to go over to New York,
notwithstanding the doubtfulness of attempting to find them in
so large a city. I wrote notices to be read in the colored
churches and colored Sabbath-schools, which I delivered in
person. I then went to the colored school, superintended by Rev.
C.B. Bay. I stated my errand to him, with a description of the
young men. "Why," said he, "I must have one of them in my
school." He took me to a class where I found one of the young
men, to whom I gave the needful information.
He told me that his father was Dr. ---- of Savannah, and that he
had five children by the young man's mother, who was his slave.
On his marriage to a white woman, he sent his five colored
children and their mother to auction, to be sold for cash to the
highest bidder. On being put upon the auction-block, this young
man addressed the bystanders, and told them the circumstances of
the case; that his mother had long lived in the family of the
doctor, that it was cruel to sell her and her children, and he
warned the people not to bid for him, for he would no longer be
a slave to any man, and if any one bought him, he would lose his
money. He added, "I thought it right to say this." I then spoke
to the crowd. "My father," said I, "has long been one of your
first doctors, and do you think it right for him to sell my
mother and his children in this way?"
"I was sold, and my brother also, and the rest, although my
brother said to the crowd what I had said. We soon made our
escape, and are now both in the city. I am a blacksmith, and
have worked six months in one shop, in New York, with white
journeymen, not one of whom believes, I suppose, that I am a
colored man."
It was not surprising, for so fair was his complexion, that with
the aid of a brown wig, after he had cut off his hair, he was
completely disguised. He soon notified his brother, who lived in
another part of the city, and both put themselves out of harm's
way. They were remarkably fine young men, and it seemed a
special Providence that I should find them in such a large city,
and direct them to escape from their pursuer, within one hour
after I left my house in Brooklyn. I felt it to be an answer to
prayer.
4. One day, when I lived in New York City, a colored man came
running to my house, and in a hurried manner, said: "Is this Mr.
Tappan?" On replying in the affirmative, he said: "I have driven
my master from Baltimore. He has just arrived, and the servants
are taking off the baggage at the Astor House. I inquired of a
person passing by, where you lived. He said, 80, White Street,
and I have run here, to tell you that you may give notice to a
man who has escaped from my master, to this city, that the
object of this journey is to find him and take him back to
Slavery."
The man hurried back, so that he need not be missed by his
master, who believed that this coachman, who had lived years
with him, was his confidential servant, and would be true to his
interest.
I went immediately to the house of a colored friend, to describe
the fugitive and see if we could not concert measures to protect
him. "I think," said he, "that I know the man, by your
description, and that he boards in this house. He will soon come
in from South Street, where he has worked to-day." While we were
consulting together, sure enough, the man came in, and was most
glad to have the opportunity thus afforded, of secreting
himself.
I have not strength to dictate much more, although many other
instances occur to me of most remarkable providential
occurrences, of the escape of fugitives within my knowledge. I
used to say that I was the owner of _half-a-horse_ that was in
active service, near the Susquehanna River. This horse I owned
jointly with another friend of the slave, dedicating the animal
to the service of the Underground Rail Road.
It was customary for the agent at Havre de Grace, bringing a
fugitive to the river, to kindle a fire (as it was generally in
the night), to give notice to a person living on the opposite
side of the river. This person well understood the signal, and
would come across in his boat and receive the fugitive.
An aged colored couple, residing in Brooklyn, came over to my
office, in New York City, and said that they had just heard from
Wilmington, N.C., that their two sons (about twenty-five or
twenty-six years of age), who were slaves, were about to be
sold, for one thousand dollars each; and they hoped I should be
able and willing to assist them in raising the money.
I told them that I had scruples about putting money into the